INDIANAPOLIS — Tyrese Haliburton couldn’t comprise himself. The Indiana Pacers star, who was sitting courtside Friday at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, wasn’t simply watching basketball. He was watching artwork.
And Caitlin Clark was portray a masterpiece.
With every pinpoint move from the Indiana Fever’s No. 1 choose, Haliburton moved nearer to the sting of his seat till he lastly jumped out of it. Haliburton is aware of what an awesome move seems to be like. He led the NBA in assists final 12 months. However this full-court dart from Clark to Kelsey Mitchell for a fast-break layup made him react like he’d simply seen a magic trick.
First, his arms went up within the air. Then, they went on his head in disbelief.
“Hope y’all seeing what 22 doin at Gainbridge,” Haliburton shared by way of X.
What Ty is referring to … Elite imaginative and prescient from #IndianaFever’s Caitlin Clark. https://t.co/HT4sFXO00Y pic.twitter.com/dinxT2XACJ
— James Boyd (@RomeovilleKid) August 17, 2024
Clark’s dime to Mitchell within the second quarter was considered one of many highlights within the Fever’s 98-89 victory over the Phoenix Mercury. The resounding win, towards a group with a trio of newly topped Olympic gold medalists, secured Indiana’s first season sweep towards any opponent since 2020 and the franchise’s first season sweep towards the Mercury since 2015.
Again then, Clark was 13 and the Fever was within the WNBA Finals. The group has had just one playoff look since, and after a month-long break for the Olympics, it’s preventing for one more. Friday was merely the primary of 14 remaining regular-season bouts, and Clark got here out swinging.
The 22-year-old scored or assisted on 17 factors within the first quarter, yet another level than the Mercury scored as a group. Clark was doing no matter she needed: nailing deep 3s, changing and-1 layups and meting out passes as if she has a sixth sense.
“I feel simply attending to know my teammates and enjoying with them, it’s only a comfortability,” Clark stated. “It was gonna take me slightly little bit of time to get used to. It was onerous to regulate, and as soon as I sort of discovered my groove to this point, I feel we’ve simply been getting higher and higher.”
Clark completed with 29 factors, 10 assists and 5 rebounds. She’s reached the 25-point, 10-assist threshold twice in her final 5 video games. All different rookies in WNBA historical past mixed have accomplished it solely as soon as, per Stat Mamba.
Mitchell has been one of many important beneficiaries of Clark’s rising command of Indiana’s offense. The man All-Star guard scored a season-high 28 factors towards the Mercury, together with 10 factors off passes from Clark. Eight of these factors had been within the fourth quarter and helped stave off a livid Phoenix comeback.
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“Basketball is a language,” Mitchell stated. “You gotta get on the identical web page together with your counterparts. I feel me and C-Squared prefer to play a sure approach and that’s quick and up-tempo, so I’m gonna all the time align (along with her) primarily based on how she’s enjoying and the way the sport goes.”
Fever coach Christie Sides stated she challenged Clark over the break to “empower her teammates” much more when the season resumed. That message resonated with Clark, evidenced by how she trusted her counterparts when Phoenix stormed again from a 28-point second-quarter deficit and briefly took a 62-61 lead late within the third quarter.
As an alternative of getting pissed off, which Clark visibly displayed earlier within the season, she remained poised and saved the ball transferring. Lexie Hull nailed a 3-pointer to place the Fever again in entrance, and on the finish of the interval, when Clark might’ve taken a 3-pointer that everybody within the crowd hoped she’d shoot, she handed it to Katie Lou Samuelson.
The veteran ahead had but to aim a shot, however she nailed a 3-pointer on the buzzer. These had been her solely factors of the evening.
“She was huge open,” Clark stated by means of a smile. “She was virtually like too open.”
There have been moments Friday, significantly within the third quarter, when it regarded just like the Fever had been going to fold. It had been a theme in the beginning of the season: constructing a giant lead solely to get bullied right into a brutal loss. The Mercury tried that method and have become the aggressor behind All-Star Kahleah Copper, who completed with a game-high 32 factors, and clawed its approach again into the sport.
However Clark didn’t panic and neither did her teammates. After Mitchell took exception to how Phoenix’s Natasha Cloud was defending her within the third quarter, Mitchell shoved Cloud within the chest and was whistled for an offensive foul. The 2 got here face-to-face and got technical fouls.
“Generally having ardour for the sport, some moments can spike your group as much as go and play properly,” Mitchell stated. “I had a second myself. … However I feel it sort of helped us. The grit and the sport in these third quarters and when groups make runs is the way you win a sport within the WNBA. You simply gotta be gritty. You gotta be capable of get trenchy slightly bit.”
Nevertheless, there’s a giant distinction between being “trenchy” and being within the trenches. The latter is especially the place the Fever have resided ever since Corridor of Famer Tamika Catchings retired after the 2016 season. This 12 months, with Clark holding the paintbrush, might be a unique image.
“I all the time say that C-Squared is a kind of gamers the place her IQ is gonna take us a whole lot of locations,” Mitchell stated. “So, you actually gotta fill in the place you slot in so far as figuring out find out how to learn and regulate off her. And when you make that adjustment, I feel clearly it’s actually good basketball.”
(Photograph: Darron Cummings / Related Press)